> Hey Ron!  Have you ever driven a Westy with
> modern 15" or 16" high-performance tires?

> 15" yes, 16" no.

> And?  Was it scary?

I did not like it as much as on my own Vanagon with 14" Hankooks. My van
seemed to have less sway. But to be fair these were two different vans, so
it was not a direct comparison.

But that's not the point. It might handle great under normal driving, and
that still wouldn't necessarily make it a safe tire for emergency conditions
(when I need it most). It is under adverse conditions (i.e. evasive
maneuvers to avoid an accident) when sidewall strength matters the most.
During sudden swerves most of the weight is transferred to one side of the
van (or one particular tire) and your sidewall has to handle this with ease.
VW (and the U.S. D.O.T.) says the tire has to meet certain minimum specs to
do this safely - specs which most standard-load tires fall short of.  

I certainly would not want to bring my Vanagon to the very brink of losing
control to find out if the tire can handle it. (Especially if it didn't!)
And anything less than that only tells me that the tire is fine for
non-emergency situations. So what? 

VW set their standards for a reason. Usually vehicle manufacturers do a lot
of track testing to come up with engineering standards like this - a lot
more than anyone on this list has or could. They don't just pull the specs
out of thin air. The fact that VW "massaged" the PSI recommendations for the
Vanagons over the years shows that they continued this testing an ongoing
basis. Yet they never once wavered on their requirement for extra-load
tires, all the way through the Eurovan (which was made in the era of modern
performance tires).  VW could have saved a TON of money equipping their
Vanagons and Eurovans with lower-cost standard load tires.  Why didn't they?

Better to simply use a tire that meets VW specs, then spend the last 30
seconds of my life wishing I had.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT